Vegetable compartment in refrigerator

ABSTRACT

Vegetable compartment in a refrigerator including a partition for forming a vegetable storage space in a cold storage room, a container for being accommodated in the vegetable storage space, and a cover over the container, the cover having water collecting means on a bottom surface, thereby permitting fresh and prolonged storage of vegetables.

This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/KR00/00998 which has an Internationalfiling date of Sep. 1, 2000, which designated the United States ofAmerica and was published in English.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly,to a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator for storage of vegetablesseparate from other food in a cold storage room of a refrigerator.

2. Background of the Related Art

In general, separate from a general food storage chamber, therefrigerator has the vegetable compartment in a lower part of the coldstorage room for storage of vegetables. As shown in FIG. 1, such avegetable compartment is provided with a partition 6 for forming avegetable storage space in the cold storage room 2, and a container 4 inthe storage space. The container 4 having an opened top is covered bythe partition 6 fitted to sidewalls 2 a and 2 b of the cold storage room2, and opened/closed by pulling/pushing the container 4, i.e., bypulling the container 4, the opened top of the container 4 is exposed,through which vegetables may be stored or taken out.

In general, inside of the container 4 may be cooled, directly, orindirectly. However, even if the inside of the container 4 is cooled, aninside temperature of the container 4 is slightly higher than atemperature of the cold storage room 2. Actually, taking storagecharacteristics of vegetables into consideration, the inside temperatureof the container 4 is set to maintain a temperature slightly higher thanthe temperature of the cold storage room 2, with a consequentialtemperature difference between the inside of the container 4 and thecold storage room 2 Particularly, while a top surface of the partition 6is at a low temperature as the top surface is exposed to the coldstorage room 2, a bottom surface of the partition 6 is at a relativelyhigh temperature as the bottom surface is exposed to the inside of thecontainer 4, to cause dewing in which moist inside of the container 4with the relatively higher temperature is condensed on the bottomsurface of the partition 6. As the cooling is kept on, the moistcondensed on the bottom surface of the partition 6 grows into waterdrops, until the water drops drop into the container 4 as weight of thewater drops is greater than a surface tension of the water drops. FIG. 2illustrates the drop of the water drops formed on the bottom surface ofthe partition 6, schematically. At the end, the water drops acceleratedecomposition of the vegetables resulting in earlier degradation offreshness of the stored vegetables.

In the meantime, the moist in air in the cold storage room 2 deposits ona surface of an evaporator to grow into frost because a surfacetemperature of the evaporator is very low during operation of therefrigerator. As this process is kept on, actually the cold storage room2, more particularly, the inside of the container 4 is dried, to degradethe freshness of the stored vegetables, significantly.

There have been many efforts for solving such a problem, which will beexplained, briefly. For preventing falling of the water drops, EP 0 505171 B 1 discloses a partition having a plurality of grooves in a bottomsurface to be mounted with a slope for discharge the water drops outsideof the container. However, EP 0 505 171 B 1 has disadvantages in thatthe system is complicated and occupies much space because a separatemember is required for collecting the water drops flowing along thesloped partition and discharging out of the refrigerator. Moreover, EP 0505 171 B 1 fails to maintain humidity of the container appropriately,actually. And, Korean Utility Model publication No. 10-1997-14694, orKorean Patent Publication No. 10-1997-28396 discloses a humidity filterhaving active carbon which has an excellent adsorptivity mixed thereinfitted inside of the container, for adsorbing moisture vaporized fromthe vegetables to maintain a humidity, as well as ethylene gas producedby oxidation as the air flows in. Korean Utility Model publication No.10-1997-63487 discloses a lattice of housings formed in the bottomsurface of the partition of the container, each of which forms a spaceopened to inside of the container having a shape memory net and ahumidity filter fitted therein in succession, for absorbing the moisturevaporized from the vegetables and discharging the absorbed moisture whenthe container is dry. The shape memory net permits to discharge themoisture to the cold storage room when the absorbed moisture isexcessive, for maintaining the humidity inside of the containerconstant.

However, the disclosures can not prevent the dewing intrinsically evenif the humidity filter having active carbon mixed therein is fitted toan appropriate places on the bottom surface of the partition because thedewing on the bottom surface of the partition is caused by thetemperature difference between the top surface and a bottom surfacethereof. And, the periodic replacement of the humidity filter causesinconvenience and cost increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a vegetablecompartment in a refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more ofthe problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vegetable compartmentin a refrigerator, which can prevent water drops formed by a temperaturedifference between a vegetable compartment and a cold storage room fromfalling down onto vegetables stored in the compartment.

Other object of the present invention is to provide a vegetablecompartment in a refrigerator which can maintain a humidity in acontainer appropriately.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized andattained by the structure particularly pointed out in the writtendescription and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, thevegetable compartment in a refrigerator includes a partition for forminga vegetable storage space in a cold storage room, a container for beingaccommodated in the vegetable storage space, and a cover over thecontainer, the cover having water collecting means on a bottom surface.

The water collecting means includes a plurality of ribs formed to crossone another each having a fixed width and a fixed height extendeddownward, and a plurality of water collecting spaces formed by the ribs,and preferably further includes supplementary water collecting means forsubstantially increasing a surface area of the water collecting means.

Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means is a cavity formedat ends of the ribs at a cross of the ribs in a semispherical form.

Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means includes asupplementary rib in the water collecting space, and a supplementarywater collecting space formed by the supplementary rib, to have a heightlower than a height of the rib in a cross from, or circular form.

Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means includes a cavityformed at ends of the ribs, and a supplementary rib formed in the watercollecting space and a supplementary water collecting space formed bythe supplementary rib.

The water collecting means includes a plurality of metal strips eachhaving a fixed width and a fixed thickness crossed one another, and aplurality of water collecting spaces formed by the strips, andpreferably, the cover includes the water collecting means only.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided avegetable compartment in a refrigerator including a partition forforming a vegetable storage space in a cold storage room, the partitionhaving water collecting means on a bottom surface, and a container forbeing accommodated in the vegetable storage space

Different forms of the water collecting means can be applied regardlessof the structure and function and have the same effect.

Thus, the present invention can make a stable hold of the water dropsand maintain a humidity inside of the container at an appropriate level.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a flierunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention:

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a related art vegetablecompartment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a side section of a related art vegetablecompartment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a bottom view of a cover of a vegetable compartmentin accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side section of a cover of a vegetable compartmentin accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present inventionhaving one embodiment of water collecting means applied thereto;

FIGS. 5A˜5D illustrate a process of growth of a water drop in the watercollecting means in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of a modification of the watercollecting means;

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate perspective views of another modifications ofthe water collecting means;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate plan views of another embodiment of the watercollecting means; and,

FIG. 10 illustrates a side section of a vegetable compartment inaccordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. In explaining the present invention, identical parts will begiven the same names and reference symbols, and repetitive explanationsof the parts will be omitted.

FIG. 3 illustrates a bottom view of a cover of a vegetable compartmentin accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, and FIG. 4 illustrates a side section of a cover of avegetable compartment in accordance with a first preferred embodiment ofthe present invention having one embodiment of water collecting meansapplied thereto.

The vegetable compartment in accordance with a first preferredembodiment of the present invention includes a cover 200 having watercollecting means on a bottom surface fitted over a conventionalcontainer, together with a conventional partition and the container. Thewater collecting means includes a plurality of ribs 210 each having awidth and a height extended downward form a bottom surface of the cover200 crossing one another and a plurality of water collecting spaces 220formed by the ribs 210. As the plurality of ribs 210 are crossed, theplurality of water collecting spaces 220 each having a top portionclosed by the cover, sides closed by the crossed ribs, and a bottomportion opened only are formed. A form of the water collecting space 220can be varied depending on types of crossing of the ribs 210, i.e., anarrangement of the ribs 210, and the form of the water collecting spacein the present invention, inclusive of the first embodiment, will bebased on a square. Moreover, the water collecting means also may beformed by crossing the ribs 210, but also a plurality of circular orpolygonal ribs of fixed forms under the cover 200 and a plurality ofwater collecting spaces formed by the ribs.

Functions of the vegetable compartment in accordance with the firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention having the watercollecting means with the foregoing ribs applied thereto will beexplained, with reference to FIGS. 5A˜5D.

As the process of formation of a water drop on the cover 200 caused by atemperature difference between the container 100 and cold storage room 2is the same with the one explained already, explanation of the processwill be omitted. The water drops formed on the bottom surface of thecover 200 by the dewing are contained in the plurality of in the watercollecting spaces 220 formed as the plurality of ribs 210 are crossed.FIGS. 5A illustrates an initial state of the water drops ‘W’ containedin the water collecting space 210, when there are small water dropsformed on the bottom surface and the sidewalls of the ribs 210, and, asshown in FIG. 5B, as the dewing is continued, adjacent water drops mergeinto a larger water drop. And, as shown in FIG. 5C, as the water drop‘W’ continues to grow, the water drop forms a bridge, to form a waterdrop ‘W’ which fills the water collecting space 220 fully, at the end.The large water drop ‘W’ in the water collecting space 220 does not dropinto the container 100 because a surface area composed of the bottomsurface and the side surface of the ribs 220 to which the water drop isin contact is large. That is, the large surface area provides a largesurface tension enough to support weight of the water drop ‘W’ itself,the water drop ‘W’ in the water collecting space 220 does not drop. And,as explained, if the vegetable compartment, more particularly, inside ofthe container 100 is dry, the water drop ‘W’ in the water collectingspace 220 is vaporizes, to maintain the inside of the container 100 atan appropriate humidity. Accordingly, the vegetable compartment inaccordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present inventionprevents decomposition of the vegetable by holding the water drops inthe water collecting spaces 220 when a humidity inside of the container100 is high, and maintains the inside of the container to be at anappropriate humidity as the water drops in the water collecting spaces220 vaporizes when the inside of the container is dry, thereby allowingstorage of refresh vegetables for a long time.

The water collecting means with the ribs may have supplementary watercollecting means for efficient containment of the water drops, and FIG.6 illustrates a perspective view of a modification of the watercollecting means having the supplementary water collecting means.

Referring to FIG. 6, the supplementary water collecting means includes aplurality of cavities 230 at ends of the ribs 210. That is, in themodification of the water collecting means, a plurality of ribs 10 arecrossed, to form a plurality of water collecting spaces 220, and acavity 230 at every cross of the ribs 210 as supplementary watercollecting means, to increase a surface area of a lower portion of theribs 210. Accordingly, water drops formed, not only in the watercollecting spaces 220, but also in a lower surface of the ribs 210 canbe stored in the cavity 230. And, the cavity 230 may be formed largerthan the cross of the ribs 220, to permit adjacent water collectingspaces 220 in communication, the water drops may move between adjacentwater collecting spaces through the cavity 230, that permits uniformstorage of the water drops in all of the water collecting spaces 220because a large water drop grown in one water collecting space 220 maymove to other water collecting spaces 220 in which no water drop or onlyminute water drops are formed. With regard to the formation of thecavity 230 in the ribs 210, the cavity 230 may be formed, not limited tothe cross of the ribs 210, but at a portion at which the ribs 210 arenot crossed, of which function is the same. And, though the cavity 230may have a variety of forms, a semispherical form is preferable foractual increase of the surface area and for stable holding of the waterdrop.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate perspective views of another modifications ofthe water collecting means having supplementary water collecting means.

The another modification supplementary water collecting means includes asupplementary rib 211 or 212 formed in a water collecting space 220, anda supplementary water collecting space 221 or 222 formed by thesupplementary rib 211 or 212. The supplementary rib 211 or 212 has aheight lower than a height of the rib 210, because, if the height of thesupplementary rib 211 or 212 is higher than or equal to the height ofthe rib 210, a volume of the water collecting means may be reduced dueto the volume of the supplementary rib 211 or 212 itself. In theforegoing supplementary water collecting means shown in FIG. 7, a crossform of supplementary rib 211 is formed in the water collecting space220 for increasing a surface area for stable holding of the water dropformed in the water collecting space 220 and the supplementary watercollecting space 221. That is, the water drop makes uniform contact withthe sides of the water collecting space, and an upper side surface areaof the water drop is increased for stable holding of even larger waterdrop. In addition to this, the water drop formed in the supplementarywater collecting space 250 before growth to a larger water drop is alsohas an increased surface area by the supplementary rib 221, stableholding of the water drop is also possible. And, as shown in FIG. 8, thesupplementary water collecting means may include a circularsupplementary rib 212 and a supplementary water collecting space 212 inthe water collecting space 220. This circular supplementary rib 212 canprovide the same function and effect as the one in FIG. 7 explainedbefore. The supplementary rib may be a form other than the cross form,and may not be circular, but polygonal, with the same function andeffect explained before. And, though not shown, it is preferable thatthe modifications in FIGS. 6 to 8 are applied to the water collectingmeans having the ribs, all together. That is, the cavity 230 in FIG. 6is formed at the cross of the ribs 210, and the supplementary rib 211 or212 and the supplementary water collecting space 221 or 222 are formedin the water collecting space 220 according to FIG. 7 or 8, forobtaining a combined effect of holding the water drop formed under thebottom surface of the rib 210 and permitting stable growth of the waterdrop in the water collecting space.

In the meantime, another form of water collecting means may be providedto the cover 200, which will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and9A and 9B.

The another form of water collecting means includes a plurality of metalstrips 210 a each with a fixed width and thickness crossed each otherand a plurality of water collecting spaces 220 a formed by the strips.Each of the water collecting spaces between every crossing of theplurality of metal strips 210 a has a top portion closed by the cover200 and an opened bottom portion. According to this, as shown in FIG. 3,when it is seen from a bottom of the cover 200, the water collectingmeans has an outline similar to the water collecting means having theribs in overall. And, similar to the water collecting means having theribs, the water collecting space 220 a may have a variety of formsdepending on forms of crossing of the strip 210, i.e., arrangement ofthe strip 210 a. The cover may only consist of the water collectingmeans of the metal strips. That is, the water collecting means is placedover the container 100 instead of the cover, for protecting thevegetable in the container 100. When the vegetable compartment havingthe water collecting means is cooled down, directly or indirectly, thewater collecting means is cooled down at first as the water collectingmeans is formed of a metal having a high thermal conductivity, thatcauses concentrated occurrence of the dewing at the water collectingmeans. Then, the growth and holding process of the water drop ‘W’ formedas shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B are progressed similar to the watercollecting means having the ribs. And, the stable holding of, and thehumidity maintenance by, the water drop ‘W’ are also similar to thewater collecting means having the ribs.

FIG. 10 illustrates a side section of a vegetable compartment inaccordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In the first embodiment of the present invention explained above, thevegetable compartment had a cover 200 coupled by a hinge or the like toa top portion of the container 100 separate from the partition 6, whichis not convenient in putting in or taking out vegetables from thevegetable compartment because the container 100 should be pulled, beforeopening the cover 200. Consequently, referring to FIG. 9, the vegetablecompartment in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention includes a partition 300 having water collecting meanson a bottom surface thereof and a container 100. Other than formation ofa vegetable storage space in the cold storage room 2 instead of thecover 200 in the first embodiment, the partition 300 serves to protectthe vegetables in the container 100. Therefore, the partition 300simplifies a structure of the vegetable compartment and permits to putin the vegetables in the vegetable compartment. Though FIG. 10illustrates a partition 300 having water collecting means with ribsapplied thereto, water collecting means with the strips may also beapplicable, and the foregoing water collecting means in the secondembodiment has substantially the same definition and modification withthe first embodiment in terms of system and function. It can be knownfrom the explanation of the first embodiment that the second embodimentvegetable compartment can make stable hold of water drops formed by thewater collecting means on the partition 300 and maintains a humidityinside of the container, appropriately.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the vegetable compartment ina refrigerator of the present invention without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the presentinvention cover the modifications and variations of this inventionprovided they come within the scope of the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vegetable compartment in a refrigeratorcomprising: a partition for forming a vegetable storage space in a coldstorage room; a container accommodated in the vegetable storage space;and a cover over the container, the cover having water collecting meansto collect on a bottom surface, wherein condensed moisture on the bottomsurface is collected and contained in the water collecting means bysurface tension.
 2. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 1,wherein the water collecting means includes; a plurality of ribs formedto cross one another each having a predetermined width and apredetermined height extended downward, and a plurality of watercollecting spaces formed by the ribs.
 3. A vegetable compartment asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising supplementary water collectingmeans for substantially increasing a surface area of the watercollecting means.
 4. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 3,wherein the supplementary water collecting means is a cavity formed atends of the ribs.
 5. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 4,wherein the cavity is formed at a cross of the ribs.
 6. A vegetablecompartment as claimed in claim 5, wherein the cavity is semispherical.7. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 3, wherein thesupplementary water collecting means includes; a supplementary rib inthe water collecting space, and a supplementary water collecting spaceformed by the supplementary rib.
 8. A vegetable compartment as claimedin claim 7, wherein the supplementary rib has a height lower than aheight of the rib.
 9. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 8,wherein the supplementary rib is a cross form.
 10. A vegetablecompartment as claimed in claim 8, wherein the supplementary rib iscircular.
 11. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 3, wherein thesupplementary water collecting means includes; a cavity formed at endsof the ribs, and a supplementary rib formed in the water collectingspace and a supplementary water collecting space formed by thesupplementary rib.
 12. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 1,wherein the water collecting means includes; a plurality of metal stripseach having a predetermined width and a predetermined thickness crossedone another, and a plurality of water collecting spaces formed by thestrips.
 13. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 12, wherein thecover comprises the water collecting means only.
 14. A vegetablecompartment in a refrigerator comprising: a partition for forming avegetable storage space in a cold storage room, the partition havingwater collecting means on a bottom surface; and a container accommodatedin the vegetable storage space, wherein condensed moisture on the bottomsurface is collected and contained in the water collecting mean bysurface tension.
 15. A vegetable compartment as claimed in claim 14,wherein the water collecting means includes; a plurality of ribs formedto cross one another each having a predetermined width and apredetermined height extended downward, and a plurality of watercollecting spaces formed by the ribs.
 16. A vegetable compartment asclaimed in claim 14, wherein the water collecting means includes; aplurality of metal strips arranged to cross one another each having apredetermined width and a predetermined height extended downward, and aplurality of water collecting spaces formed by the strips.